Mr. Chair, as the hon. member said, the Prime Minister gave a commitment, and as he knows, we do have a cull cow program. We have $120 million put into it. I have asked my officials to look at it to see whether or not it is in fact working. If we need to make changes to get it working, then we will make those changes.
In terms of the whole question of American beef going to Canadians overseas, as I believe the hon. member knows--and this is an important point--these contracts are put out on a North American basis. For instance, the Americans eat ice cream from Canada.
They were the lowest bidder on this contract, so the beef went to a United States supplier. These things are put out on contracts because of NAFTA; we are able to contract into the American forces in a number of different areas. The fact that it came from the United States was a surprise to a lot of Canadians, but this is something we need to recognize. This is a North American industry. It should not be a surprise that how it is eventually sold down the line is in a North American manner also.